Which is the lesser of the 2 evils...?

itsonlyme

itsonlyme

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Dolly-pony (12.2hh welsh B X) has been out of work now for about 18 months. She's ridden once in a blue moon if i can get a kid to come & have a play. Other than that, just the occasional lungeing or in-hand walking.

She was diagnosed with sacroiliac problems, hence the not-riding. However, she is sound now (has been for a while), so i want to get her fit again. She's seriously fat :o She's muzzled 24/7 (lives out 24/7) in a greenguard, but yesterday she got it off. She has NO respect for fencing of any kind. If she wants to get out, she'll get out (over, under, or through!)
I wanted to lock her in our sand paddock with soaked hay, but she gets out after about 10 minutes. So i tried stabling her, but she threw a FIT cos she was the only one in. Rearing at the door and box-walking like you wouldn't believe. We only have one stable and a couple of field shelters, so i cant bring any of the others in for company.

Soooo...before she went lame, i used to ride her a lot. However, when she went lame, i didn't want to risk riding her again as i am 9.5 stone (plus saddle). (When i say 'lame', she wasnt limping or anything - just wasn't tracking up behind in trot).

I'm quite sickened and embarrassed of her fat-ness & it's got to the point where i'm thinking i should ride her anyway. Even if it's only in walk. Would that be cruel? Even IF she stopped tracking up again once i was on her, would it be cruel to still ride her? The vets originally said to keep her on 1 bute a day (forever), but i wanted to see how she was without it & she's sound, so she's not on any now.

I have advertised her a LOT for free rides or loans, but had NO interest :confused: I dont want to lunge too much as the vets said it would be better to stick to straight lines (i.e. lots of hacking). Post-diagnosis, we sent her to a rehab yard to use their aqua treadmill. She came back to us sound and very fit. But we didnt have anybody to ride her to maintain the fitness.

So given the situation, would you ride her? I cant think of anything else i can try where we are. Even electric fencing; she just laughs at it! :mad: :rolleyes: I wanted to lead her off one of my others, but she can be a bit of a cow-bag and i'm not sure i'd trust her to not slam her brakes on & i'd let go! I'm going to stick with the muzzling anyway (assuming yesterday was a one-off and she hasn't sussed out how to remove it!), but she needs more than that :( So which is the lesser of the 2 evils ; having an obese pony or riding a not-quite-right one?! :o
 
I am not sure you should ride her - given her history and current weight issue/fitness levels. I would say you need to start walking her out in hand, long lining and lunging regularly and she will soon start to lose it!

ETA - the lunging could be done with an extra long line/you moving a lot with her so that she is on the largest circle possible?
 
We're in cheshire (frodsham). We have a sand school, but it's too deep really - i don't want her to do any (more) damage.
I could walk her out more inhand - i guess I'd just rather be riding. Lazy! :-/
She's never long-lined, but first time for everything! :)
 
How about free schooling over a couple of trotting poles? Easier on the joints than on a lunge line as she can circumnavigate the whole arena.


She may take well to long lining and find it some thing different, as with leading off another horse. Very often, they do settle and move in sync with the ridden horse, particularly in trot. My physio recommended it for fittening a rehab as we could cover more distance/speed than on foot with the advantage of not having the weight of a rider.
 
How about long lining and building up to potentially breaking her to drive?

Even if you aren't sure on how to, you could look for someone to help you with it.

Gives her a job with much less strain than perhaps carrying you.
 
Is there a horse or pony she likes to be with/follow. My friends old pony used to school by just following her field mate. Needs to be a calm horse your riding but apart from that it seemed to work well, she could do walk trot canter with circles apart from slowing to change reign just like normal schooling.
 
I agree with everybody about the long-reining and driving training, but I'd be concerned about the deep sand school. If I had a horse with a sacroiliac problem the last place I'd want to be working him is somewhere deep where strain is put on joints in legs, pelvis and shoulders to help himself move through the deep sand.

Can you hack out on quiet lanes with another horse and lead the pony? Or is there a nice flat grass area that you can start on? The hard surface should help strengthen the sacroiliac area more than a soft, deep sand surface.

It's a tough one about you riding her... Can you find a child who just wants a horse to ride or you could even give some lessons to on him? That would be ideal.

Good luck!
 
flirtygerty said:
I agree with the breaking to drive idea, great fun, but long rein in the meantime, good practise for driving, use verbal commands
Click to expand...

Driving has to be the way forward. But I feel I have to warn you it's highly addictive and you might never go back to riding. Remember ALL horses will drive. We've even got a driven Arab ATM.
 
I would teach her to lead off your other horse then your problems are solved. Start in the school but work her on the ground with a pressure halter first.
 
Thanks all :) We do already have a mare who drives. She loves it! (So do we!) But Dolly has never struck me as the 'type' who would take to it & be trusted. She doesn't like being lunged with 2 lines & seems to really panic about it. Although to be fair, i haven't tried that for years, so will have another go. She's much more chilled out now.
Next time somebody is with me, I'll try riding & leading her around our field. I do think she'll be ok for this; i just don't know if she'll do as she's told out hacking! :)
I've got a Be-Nice somewhere, so I'll dig that out.
igglepop; she does do that actually - i forgot though, so will try again. She tends to cut me up a lot though! :D
lazybee, if u fancy a project....:D

I've had a call in response to my ad (finally!), so fingers crossed that amounts to something. She was an awesome ridden pony & i think she misses it :(

Thank u all again :)
 
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